Florendo and her colleague, Jody Isernhagen, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor of education administration, received this award according to UNL’s website for their “study of school administrators’ perceptions about pre-K programming, knowledge of research and understanding of curriculum and availability of resources.”

Florendo received her Doctor of Education in educational administration at the university in December 2012. She is also a coordinator for the Alliance for Kids, which is a part of the Early Childhood Council in Colorado Springs, Colo. Florendo is currently working as an adjunct professor at Doane in early childhood education.

The Howard Dawson Award is given to an author(s) of the best judged research paper entered in the National Rural Education Association research conference.